Star Wars HoloNet Digest #63: July 9-16, 2014

Welcome back to the Star Wars HoloNet Digest, a weekly feature where I bring you a recap of the latest news from the world of Star Wars. Whether it’s a movie announcement or a noteworthy author interview, you’ll find it here. Let’s check the HoloNet and see what happened in the last week.

San Diego Comic-Con will be hear before you know it, and Del Rey will be there with advance reader’s editions of A New Dawn by John Jackson Miller. You can check out a picture of the book, which will be given away at the Del Rey Star Wars booth (#2913D), right here. Also at that link is a map of the portion of the show floor containing the huge Lucasfilm pavilion, in which the Star Wars team’s booth will be located. Miller and cover artist Doug Wheatley will be signing copies of the free advance reader’s edition, which also includes excerpts from Tarkin, Heir to the Jedi, and Lords of the Sith. Their signing times are available at the above link.

Titan Magazines, publisher of Star Wars Insider, is also going to be at SDCC this year, and they are bringing the star of their latest issue: children’s book author Jeffrey Brown. Insider #151 features a cover drawn by Brown and an interview with him to mark the release of his new book, Jedi Academy: Return of the Padawan (out July 29). Fans who pick up a copy of Insider #151 at the convention will be able to get it signed by Brown at Titan’s booth (#5537) on Friday, July 25 at 3:00 p.m.

There’s so much Star Wars goodness happening at Comic-Con that it’s almost impossible to keep track of it all. In addition to Del Rey’s big panel centered on A New Dawn, Star Wars Rebels will have a big SDCC presence anchored by a panel on Thursday, July 24 at 6:00 p.m. Executive producers Dave Filoni and Simon Kinberg, along with series stars Freddie Prinze, Jr., Vanessa Marshall, Steve Blum, Tiya Sircar, and Taylor Gray, will talk about their work and reveal some exclusives at “The Heroes of Star Wars Rebels.” Don’t miss it if you’re a Rebels fan heading to SDCC!

Ahead of the big panel at Comic-Con, Lucasfilm also released a couple of Rebels tidbits to whet fans’ appetites for the series. First, they debuted a featurette about the heroes’ droid companion, Chopper, and the Droid Builders who constructed a working life-size replica of the feisty astromech. We’ve got that embedded below.

Then, the LA Times’ Hero Complex blog broke the news that actor David Oyelowo will voice one of Star Wars Rebels’ recurring villains, the Imperial Security Bureau officer called Agent Kallus. This is not the first time we’ve heard Oyelowo’s name. Rumor had it that he had auditioned for roles in both Rebels and Episode VII, with a connection between the two projects reportedly running through his character(s). Just last month, I pointed out on TheForce.Net that, contrary to reports of Oyelowo playing the Imperial Inquisitor, he sounded more like Kallus in the brief clip from the first trailer. Here’s the introductory video about Kallus from the announcement:

Lucasfilm announced yesterday that Marvel Comics will be publishing several omnibuses collecting its original 1977-1986 run of Star Wars comics. The first omnibus, which will be released in January 2015, is 880 pages and costs $125. It will contain Star Wars Issues #1-44 and Star Wars Annual #1. Axel Alonso, editor-in-chief at Marvel Comics, said, “I am extremely proud to present these original Star Wars stories, told as only Marvel can, in the first in a massive and glorious Omnibus series.”

Lastly, if you’re interested in hearing from a diverse group of Star Wars legends in their own words, check out these recent Reddit “Ask Me Anything” Q&As with author Timothy Zahn and actor Jeremy Bulloch. Want more? Lucasfilm editor and star behind-the-scenes chronicler J.W. Rinzler is doing an AMA today at 2 p.m. ET. There’s no link yet, but I would imagine either Rinzler or Lucas Online will tweet it out as soon as it’s live.